Therapy Stops Suicide Attempts
 Reported August 3, 2005

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Patients at risk for repeat suicide attempts may benefit from cognitive therapy. A new study shows those treated with the therapy were 50 percent less likely to attempt suicide again at 18 months.

Previous research conducted in 2002 shows those who attempted suicide in the past were as much as 40-times more likely to commit suicide again compared to those individuals who never made an attempt. Suicide was the fourth leading cause of death in people between ages 18 and 65 in the United States that very same year.

Gregory Brown, Ph.D., and colleagues conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of cognitive intervention therapy on patients recently hospitalized for attempted suicide. These patients were taught to use a more positive way of coping with day-to-day struggles throughout the entire duration of their 10-session cognitive therapy meetings.

Results show about 25 percent of patients in the cognitive therapy group attempted suicide compared to nearly 42 percent of patients in the usual-care group. Researchers also found patients in the cognitive therapy group reported less hopelessness at six months